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By Angel Savoy-James
March 18, 2007
INTRODUCTION
The Title
The title, Women and Toilets, was a gut reaction title. Once I heard
it I knew that was the title of my talk. What I was to actually talk
about turned out to be harder than I imagined. At women’s circle I
was talking about my concerns about finding a restroom on site at my
job. A bit of background. I am an Electrical Apprentice.
Electricians are construction workers. I work on a construction
site. And yes it is dirty and muddy most of the time. There is
normally a designated restroom for women, usually a portable john
with a lock that only the women have access too. Now every year for
a total of five years, the apprentices transfer to different
companies. I transferred to my new company on January 1 and to date
am continuing to have trouble finding a clean restroom on the
jobsite that I was assigned to. Has I was stating my concerns in the
women’s circle one evening, one member, Janet, blurted out, You
should call your service Women and Toilets because of all the drama
you’re having. We all giggled and immediately that became the
working title.
It became the official title when I told several people in the
church the title. Oh what are you speaking about? Women and Toilets.
Uh? Or a look of “Did I hear that correctly?” “Women and what???
After restating the title, I was amazed and honored with the rush of
ideas coming from the members of this church. One member suggested,
you should talk about how women nowadays are able to fix their own
toilet without needed a man’s help. You can talk about the new
female speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi,
who assumed her post on January 4 and how she really is expected to
clean house and take out all the dirtiness in congress. You can talk
about genital mutilation among women in other countries. Or maybe
Abortion- Pro-life and Pro-choice and the current dialogues between
the two groups.
I read “The Female Thing: Dirt, Sex, Envy, Vulnerability” by Laura
Kipnis which offers an unorthodox investigation of "the female
condition." I listened to “The Bitch in the House: Women tell the
Truth about Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood and Marriage” edited by
Cathi Hanauer. This book offers a unique and honest assessment of
how American women today feel about their lives and why many are
still angry and for good cause.
I read about current women’s issues like equal health care coverage.
I referenced what politician’s were saying about women. Mainly that
women will be deciding the vote in the upcoming elections next year.
Yet, it’s normally in the most normal circumstances when you find
true clarity about what you need to speak about and I discovered it
from my hairstylist, Bonnie. Bonnie is a member of From the Heart
Church Ministries, the church located across from BK Miller in
Clinton and we have know each other for a little more than 5 years.
I told her I was talking about Women and Toilets and that I was
having a hard time trying to figure out what women’s issues to
address, perhaps rape, or work discrimination. Bonnie words, Girl
keep it simple. People want to hear about their life and what
affects them now. Hmm. Bonnie was right. I needed to keep it simple.
Not the entire human race, just women. Not the bathroom, just the
toilet. Got it. And maybe something about the water in the toilet.
Women and Toilets: Part 1 begins.
Women
I wanted to take a few moments and talk about some unusual working
women.
Clara Barton was born on Christmas day in 1821 in Oxford,
Massachusetts. One biography sites Clara Barton as one of America's
greatest heroines -- a true patriot and philanthropist who, when she
saw a practical need, gave every ounce of her strength to address
it. Clara Barton, a shy farm girl from Massachusetts, harnessed her
iron will and devotion to human welfare to accomplish the good works
which earned her world fame.
Clara Barton was the first president of the National Society of the
Red Cross, later to be called the American Red Cross and for 23
years directed its relief activities. Ever dedicated to helping
others, she went to Cuba with a cargo of supplies in 1898, though
more than 70 years old. She also spent six weeks on the scene of the
Galveston, Texas floods, at age 79. She was a Universalist
Layperson.
I opened with Broken Goddesses, given to me by Peggy Dowling. It
occurred to me after reading this that we as American women feel as
though we are knocked down and continuously made to feel ashamed of
being a female. We are broken and scattered across this earth. Yet
we are slowly coming back together bit by bit. This goddess is
intent on putting the female image back into its proper form.
Proverbs 31:10-31 is one of my most favorite passages in the bible.
I realize many women find it hard to get past the first sentence “A
wife of noble character who can find?” Yet, continue to read and you
discover an ancestor to today’s working woman. The context of this
is that many women strive for an ideal image of the modern woman and
I believe this is a sample of one.
“She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still dark: she provides for her family and
portions for her servant girls. She considers a field and buys it.”
At this point, I wonder if the Noble wife is on the same 24 hour
schedule that we are using. She’s a mother, a caretaker, a business
women. In short, she works. And the entire reading is about what she
does. What her days are like.
I am a huge Dixie Chicks fan. I have all their albums and was
painfully aware of the shunning they received after making remarks
about George Bush several years ago. The majority of their country
music base denounced them and local radio stations boycotted their
music. I was thrilled when they recently walked out of the Grammy
awards with 5 awards for their new album, “Not ready to make Nice”.
These three women were able to regain their faith and commitment to
freedom of speech and worked hard to make it known.
According to their website, Sweet Honey in the Rock is a Grammy
Award-winning African American female a cappella ensemble who create
a blend of lyrics, movement and narrative that variously relate
history, point the finger at injustice, encourage activism, and sing
the praises of love. The music speaks out against oppression and
exploitation of every kind. Their song, “The Women Gather” states
“It doesn’t matter where you’re living.”
The above women were women who worked toward uniting one another,
helping one another. It makes me angry to realize that they are the
exceptions to the rule. There is a horrible trend coming into
America at this time. The churched versus the unchurched. Christian
versus non-christian. And even Black women versus white women and
the evergrowing American women vs. non-american women.
Ann Coulter, a legal correspondent for Human Events and popular
syndicated columnist for Universal Press Syndicate, recently wrote
the book “Godless: The Church of Liberalism”. This book is an
extremely hard read because it is an us vs. them mentality with
really no room for compromise or for finding common ground. What is
disturbing is that this is a New York Times National Bestseller
book. I am concerned that people, especially women are reading this
book and others similar to it that promote this sister segregation.
Time Magazine interviewed with John Cloud on Sunday, Apr. 17, 2005.
The title was Ms.Right. I quote from the article, “… But no one on
the right is so iconic, such a totem of this particular moment.
Coulter epitomizes the way politics is now discussed on the
airwaves, where opinions must come violently fast and cause as much
friction as possible. No one, right or left, delivers the required
apothegmatic commentary on the world with as much glee or
effectiveness as Coulter. It is almost impossible to watch her and
not be sluiced into rage or elation, depending on your views. As a
congressional staff member 10 years ago, Coulter used to help write
the nation's laws. Now she is far more powerful: she helps set the
nation's tone.”
Toilets
There is something inherently peaceful about being in the bathroom
especially, if it is your own. Something mystical. Hear me out. When
you go in and come out, you are transformed. The bathroom rid us of
excess waste. The bathroom cleans us from the dirt and grittiness of
the day.
In Feng Shui, the study of life force energy, or chi, and how it
moves around us and through our environments, it is always
recommended that bathrooms and especially toilet seats be kept
closed for fear of the positive energy escaping out of the house.
Women and toilets have been around for centuries now. Women on
advertising constantly sell the latest and greatest aide to quicken
bathroom cleanup. Why is it no one wants to clean the bathroom let
alone the toilet. Cleaning a toilet is a menial task and most women
do it. Is there anything spiritual in that? Some would say you are
cleaning the crap in the world, not just yours but the entire
household. You are the savior in the home. I think being on the
toilet is a spiritual practice.
What do you think about when you are on the toilet? Do you say a
prayer? Do you quickly run through the list of things you still have
to do in a day? Do you immediately pick up a book or magazine and
read to pass the time?
What are your emotions while sitting on the toilet? I’m pretty sure
relief and even some distinct form of peace arises. As a mother of
two sons when I’m on the toilet, that is a quick moment of solitude.
Women and men have such hectic lives and are so busy that the truly
on have one or two moments of downtime in a day. Normally it’s when
we are in the bathroom and specifically when we are on the toilet.
We can’t go anywhere until we are done.
CONCLUSION
So what was the purpose of this talk? Three key things I am asking
of you today. The first is a call to reunite with our sisters in
faith and other faiths. I call us to reunite with women not just in
our community but other communities. I ask you to reflect upon what
is the current image of American women not only in America but also
globally. What are you planning to do this spring as women and men
to help set the nation’s tone. Are you saying that violence doesn’t
happen in your neighborhood, that certain women don’t need your help
or your compassion?
Second, spend a few minutes each day doing what I call bluntly
toilet meditations, healings, or prayer. Listen to your thoughts and
discover the path that you need to take. Reflect upon the balance of
light and dark during this time of year. Ask yourself, are you
moving in the path of light and warmth that was intended for you or
are you continuing to stay in the winter and cold because that is
what you are used to?
Third, the time for us sitting in our chairs and saying to each
other, yes we are a breakthrough congregation. We did it! And
congratulating ourselves is over. I remind you breakthrough means we
have crossed the point of no return and we will continue our
struggle for multi-culturalism and unity of experience. Like the
Broken Goddess, the Noble Wife, Clara Barton and others, they stood
up and did something. They physically went to work helping, healing,
and mending this world. I ask that you do the same.
Final thoughts: let’s not forget about the water in the toilet,
great sustainer of Life. The majority of the Earth is covered in
water. I often wonder how our use of water and other natural
resources will affect this Battered Earth.
A small event happened here in DC on January 17, 2007. A group of
scientific and evangelical leaders met to search for common ground
in the protection of creation. What came out of this meeting was an
Urgent Call to Action: Scientists and Evangelicals unite to Protect
Creation. In the Call to Action, they state, “Important initiatives
were already underway on both sides, and when compared they were
found to be broadly overlapping. We clearly share a moral passion
and sense of vocation to save the imperiled living world before our
damages to it remake it as another kind of planet.”
They continue to state, “ We agree not only that reckless human
activity has imperiled the Earth—especially the unsustainable and
short-sighted lifestyles and public policies of our own nation—but
also that we share a profound moral obligation to work together to
call our nation, and other nations, to the kind of dramatic change
urgently required in our day. We pledge our joint commitment to this
effort in the unique moment now upon us. More on this significant
event and the effect women and toilets have on our natural resources
to come in Part II.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Websites:
www.conservation.org
www.uuministryforearth.org
www.climatecrisis.org
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/womenshistorymonth/a/whm_history.htm
http://www.shamans-sf.org/calendar/spring_equinox.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/spring_equinox.htm
http://www.sweethoney.com/
(Creating Home Sanctuaries with Feng Shui, Author Shawne Mitchell.
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